Ghana Spent $151 Million on Buses That Never Left the Park | Why everyone is still in Traffic

Every Ghanaian who commutes knows the feeling. Alarm at 4:30am. On the road before sunrise. Kasoa to Accra. Pokuase to Accra. Tema to Accra. Two hours. Sometimes more. Every single morning. Since Ghana's Fourth Republic began in 1993, every administration has bought buses. 16 major bus procurement programmes. Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Belgian, Swedish, Indian buses. Thousands of vehicles. Billions of cedis. And the morning commute still hasn't changed. In this episode of JoyNews Explains, Jacqueline Ansomah Yeboah breaks down 30 years of Ghana's bus and rail record — why the buses keep failing, why the rail promises keep getting broken, and what it will actually take to fix the system. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — Hook: The 4:30AM Alarm 1:00 — Introduction 1:20 — Why This Is More Than a Traffic Problem 2:30 — How Ghana Left Public Transport in the 1990s 3:30 — The Bus Parade: 16 Programmes in 30 Years 5:30 — Why Do the Buses Keep Failing? 6:45 — The Rail Promises: A 30-Year Tracker 8:30 — The Three Patterns Nobody Wants to Admit 9:30 — Where Are We Now? The Wins and the Gaps 10:45 — What Needs to Change KEY FACTS FROM THE RESEARCH: • 16 major bus procurement programmes since 1993 • MMT fleet peaked at 1,000+ buses — now ~400 operational • Aayalolo BRT: 245 Scania buses, $151m total — most never deployed • Sky Train: $2.6bn deal, $2m paid — never built, abandoned • Tema–Mpakadan: Ghana's first standard-gauge rail — now running • Belgian concessionary loan: active since 2003, still running in 2026 • ~95% of public transport users rely on trotros Follow JoyNews: Instagram: @myjoyonline Twitter/X: @JoyNewsOnTV TikTok: @joynews Facebook: JoyNews Read more: myjoyonline.com #GhanaTransport #GhanaTraffic #MetroMassTransit #Aayalolo #GhanaRailway #TemaMpakadan #GhanaCommute #KasosaAccra #JoyNewsExplains #GhanaNews2026 #GhanaInfrastructure #GhanaRoads #AccraTraffic #GhanaPublicTransport #JoyNews #WestAfrica #GhanaEconomy #AccraCityLife #GhanaDevelopment